Always be thorough checking areas, there's nice things hidden around and sometimes whole areas of the game are hiding down dark alleys or little crannies in the scenery. Although have your wits about you because sometimes things that seem nice are Not At All.
Learn the block button and use it all times.
Choose a class depending on how you'd like to play. Characters with hi dexterity etc will be rolling/running a lot, magic characters are probably best from range and strong knights or bandits tend to be for balls to the wall run up and twat someone tactics.
And always praise the sun

- You're better off spending your early souls on upgrading weapons and armour as you get more bang for your buck that way
- Once you get the white soapstone try getting yourself summoned for boss fights. There's no penalty for dying in someone elses game so you can treat it as a scouting mission.
- Be patient, keep your shield up and try and draw enemies into fights. 1v1 shouldn't give you any problems - it's when you get swarmed that you get into trouble.
- Going in with a melee character is easy at first but harder later on - magic users have things tough for a bit but it makes life a lot easier later on.
- None of the gifts are all that useful. The skeleton key comes in handy I guess. But none of them are game changers.
- If you're having trouble make yourself human and summon someone in to give you a hand.

It's not *that* hard. It's just unforgiving and demands your focus and respect. And, occasionally, is a bit of a dick.

the first way you should head is under the big crow through the flooded temple. the skeletons there are the easiest enemies and will help you get a feel for the combat. alternatively follow the stairs down from the first bonfire and go to new londo ruins, which is the tutorial area.

Don't be ashamed of looking at stuff on the internet. The game is pretty opaque about stuff. Try to avoid walkthroughs at first if possible though.

Related to the above, the stats don't always work as you think they do! It'd make sense for your character movement to improve with Dexterity but it doesn't. It's mostly about how damage scales with a given stat, such as strength or dexterity, and the requirements in each that weapons have.

Learn to backstab! It gets you out of a lot of tough spots with human-sized enemies. Try it on the guys up the hill in firelink shrine or in the undead burg. Move directly behind while locked on, let the stick go neutral and press R1 on its own. It's a bit tricky to get the hang of.